Tortured and murdered: Victoria Climbie's mother says nothing has changed since her daughter's death in 2000

The mother of Victoria Climbie today said she felt 'betrayed' by local government bosses when she heard about other children dying in care.

The eight-year-old's horrific death eight years ago led to a public inquiry and placed the handling of child abuse cases firmly under the microscope.

Victoria had been sent to Europe by her parents, who hoped she would gain a better education than in her native Ivory Coast home.

But she was starved, beaten with coat hangers and bicycle chains, bound naked and kept prisoner in a freezing bathroom in a squalid flat in Haringey, east London.

When she died in February 2000 she weighed just 3st 10lb (24kg).

Victoria's mother, Berthe, said deaths of other children in similar circumstances showed nothing had changed.

Speaking to the BBC via a translator, she said: 'I am still learning that other children are still dying.

'We see the same sort of tragedies here as the things that happened to the little one.'

An inquiry into Victoria's death, chaired by Lord Laming, found there were several missed chances to save the youngster, who was found with 128 separate injuries when she died.

The inquiry report made more than 100 recommendations to the Government for reform.

Marie-Therese Kouao, Victoria's great aunt, and her lover Carl Manning were convicted of murder and child cruelty in January 2001 and jailed for life for the crime.

Victoria's mother thanked the Government for launching the investigation into her daughter's death and also said she had 'forgiven' those whose mistakes led to the girl's plight going unnoticed.

Devastated: Parents Francis and Berthe Climbie. Mrs Climbie has called on Britain to fully implement the recommendations made by the inquiry into Victoria's death

Devastated: Parents Francis and Berthe Climbie. Mrs Climbie has called on Britain to fully implement the recommendations made by the inquiry into Victoria's death

But she criticised local authorities for not fully implementing recommendations made by Lord Laming.

She told the BBC: 'They gave their word, but they did not live up to their responsibilities. I was betrayed. They gave me their words and I was betrayed.

'An inquiry of six months - they did not respect it. If they had respected it, children would still not be dying left, right and centre. It's not just one child, it's several. After Victoria there are many children who have died in tragic circumstances.'

Mrs Climbie said she was no longer angry about the death of her own daughter but found it hard to understand why children were dying in similar circumstances.

She said: 'After eight years I'm not angry, but what moves me today are that children are dying. It's that that makes me sad. It's that I find heart breaking because the words were not respected.

'They gave me their words but I am seeing that it's not happening. I'm really hurt when it comes to social services and I demand that the bosses take their responsibility.'

And she demanded a full review of the inquiry into Victoria's death to ensure that its recommendations are fully implemented.

She said: 'They did not follow the inquiry, but I'm demanding an absolute revision of the inquiry.

'Maybe with this revision they might understand. If not then it's sad, really sad.

'Such a large country. We have heard about children being killed here and there. We are in a country where a child is killed, a child is abused a child killed like this, like that. Is this right?'

And asked whether she had come to terms with Victoria's death, she replied: 'When you lose a child it is never easy. At first it makes your heart bleed and gradually you have to try to forget what has happened and pray for the person's soul.'

Mrs Climbie, who lives in the Ivory Coast, is in the UK for the first time since the publication of Lord Laming's report five years ago to attend a conference organised by The Victoria Climbie Foundation.

In recent years there have been several court cases involving parents or carers wilfully neglecting or abusing a child in their care.

Dr Maggie Atkinson, president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said local authorities that are not following best practice are in the 'absolute minority'.

And she said things had 'very definitely' changed.

Dr Atkinson told BBC Radio 4 programme Today: 'We're inspected every year, sometimes on a very full basis with dozens of inspectors present on the patch and talking to children and parents as well as professionals.'

But Dr Atkinson did admit that the recent case of Kyrah Ishaq, the seven-year-old who apparently starved to death in Birmingham, showed that there was still some way to go.

She said: 'There are 11 million children in this country and any death is an absolute tragedy.

'We had another absolutely awful story from Birmingham last week - the details of which are still not known so let's not speculate - but it's clear that the system still has some development to do and still has a lot of lessons to learn.'